The Rest of January

Where did January go??? It was very low-key this year. We’ve just been hanging out with little Baby Tommy and watching the snow fly….just kidding! It didn’t snow at all! I was able to put Tommy and Drew in the stroller and go for walks a LOT! The kids played outside, especially after lunch (when the sandbox usually thawed out) and Dallin has been practicing his 2-wheeling skills. He still loves those training wheels, so it’s been a hard adjustment. The illnesses haven’t been that bad this winter either! I mean, they still all got the occasional colds, but they weren’t that bad. Baby Tommy got his first cold in January and I thought it was a miracle it took THAT long! It was very minor and never developed into anything serious. Drew, on the other hand, gets croup with every cold virus. Luckily he’s old enough now he can just ride it out without having to see the doc. And for some reason, the colds only ever happened on weekends! It was so bizarre! They never missed any school or playgroups… but I didn’t make it to regular church at all in January because I was always home with whoever was down that weekend. We made a lot of cinnamon rolls and cookies and snuggled a lot of baby Tommy!

Tommy's Blessing

I am so grateful for this little baby of ours!!!  He's growing so fast.  I was especially excited for his baby blessing and a reason to get together with family to celebrate little Tommy boy.  I was thrilled that Auntie Sharon would be in town.  We all hung out Saturday night, making pizza, chili and cornbread.  Paul, Stefanie, and little Joshua dropped in for dinner before their tour of the Ice Castles.  It's so fun to have that many people in the house, talking and laughing.  Sunday morning went off without a hitch, thanks to a very helpful Sharon.  We all got to church on time and baby Tommy slept through the whole meeting!  Because he was being so good, it meant that Dallin had to be especially rowdy.  I missed a good chunk of the prayer itself, but remember phrases like "blessing to your family", "example to your brothers (hopefully!)"  and "stay true to the gospel".  I love that we have this little ordinance to give us a little bit of peace in the crazy world.

John and Heather were gracious enough to host the luncheon.  They have the ultimate party house and we fill it up nicely.  We ate almost everything, including Mom's pumpkin and chocolate pies!  And what was left sitting on the counter, was eventually eaten.  We had quite the party, eating and passing around little Tommy, who loved all the attention.

With Sharon being in town, we couldn't pass up a ski day!  Monday was a holiday so that made it easy.  We had a whole slew of skiers in our group, sisters, nieces, and nephews.  4 adults, 8 kids!  Luckily we have some natural talent in this family.  We were able to stick together the whole day.  It was a miracle.  Even more miraculous was that nobody got hurt!  (You can tell the things I worry about as I get older).  The snow was sketchy, it's been a mild winter, but we all had fun!  It was nice to be on skis again and I was exhausted by the end.  Bevan was a trouper and tended the babies at home.  We couldn't have done it without him... and his amazing ski passes.  We all love Bevan!